King of the Mountain

Last week the run for SAAC was ‘Run for Ray’, out at Troppers Creek.  There we had to run up one killer of a mountain! No I’m not joking, it was hard work, I had to walk 3/4 of that hill, but I wasn’t the only one who walked.  Even the best had to walk parts.  But what goes up, comes down, so even thought the 1st half of the run was hard, it was all down hill from there.  It was suppose to be 10km, but according to the garmin it was less at 9.79.  Either way I finished it and under an hour.

To see the details of the run, you can do so here

This week was ‘King of the Mountain’ out at Halls Gap.  The distance, well that is kind of up in the air.  First it was 3km, then we were told 4.4km.  In the end the garmin told me it was 3.65km, however it was all up hill.  So yes, no pb  on this race.  I ended up placing 9th with the handicaps (handicap time of 7:55).  My race time was 30:09mins, but my actual time was 22:14.  My pace about 6min p/km.  But considering it was all up hill, I’ll take it.

SAAC – King of the Mountain by matilda_i at Garmin Connect – Details.

My lungs felt like they were bursting, ok not bursting bursting like how I use to feel when I just started running, but I could tell they were getting an above average workout.  I did forgot my heart rate monitor, I realise halfway to the Gap that I left it at home.  So I’m not too sure what my max heart rate was, but it would have been fairly high.  I also think the cold air didn’t help as well, but at the end of the day, I did it, and I didn’t stop and walked.  I also got practice at spitting. I’m not very good at it, and well for whatever reason I was producing more saliva than I could handle. I know weird, and laugh, it is funny, well in a weird obscure way.

All in all it was a good run.  I also ran back down the Mountain (as it was a one way track), crazy? Possibly, but it was all downhill (until the last 50m which I sucked it up and went hard), so my time yes my time back was faster, but what do you expect when it’s all downhill.  Also I wasn’t the only one who decided to run back. So I’m not the only crazy.
Some runners even ran back (no joke) back to the gap where we had planned on having afternoon tea.  Now THAT is crazy (dedicated).

Next week I don’t plan on running the SAAC event.  As I have another even on the Sunday, and I want to have a rest from running.  I find I run better when I have rest days inbetween my runs.

No Someday

 

We have all said someday.

I know I use to say someday.  Not anymore.  Sure I still have dreams, that I hope to complete someday, because they don’t fit into my life purpose right now.  It doesn’t mean I haven’t forgotten about them, it just means that they don’t fall in line with my current goals and my clarity statement.  That being said, some dreams, will just be dreams, or moreso idea’s.  And there is nothing wrong with idea’s.

So what is stopping you from doing what you want now?  Is it fear? Fear of the unknown, fear of what is possible.  Isn’t it better to try and fail than never try at all.  Or is it that you think you will fail.  That you think that you can’t do it?  If you want it bad enough, you make the change.  Yes change is scary, but if we don’t challenge ourselves how will we ever know our potential, of what we are totally capable of doing.

We all get too comfortable with lazy.  Lazy does not get us anywhere.  You know that term “want something done? give it to a busy person”?  Well if you haven’t heard of it, you have now.  The fact of the matter is that we all have 24 hours in a day, or 1440 minutes in a day (525,600 minutes in a year to be exact).  What are you doing in your day that is stopping you from your dreams?

If it’s important to you you make the time, it’s that simple.

So stop putting it off for someday.  Better to take small steps, than none at all.

So Close

I have another fun run coming up 5th August.  It’s 10km. Best part is that it’s local, so I will actually be able to walk to the start line, and walk home! Yay.  My goal for this race is to get a sub 54min time. I chose this time after I did Run the Gap in May.  When I did the 11.5km then I manage to do 10km in 56mins (approx).  I thought yeah, I could do 55mins, but then I thought, lets push myself some more, lets see if I can do under 54mins.

Well today I scheduled a 10km run.  That 10km I did in 54m07s! So only 8 seconds to shave off to get that sub 54min time.  8 seconds isn’t much, but it’s also a lot when it comes to a race. That being said, running in a race is very different to running on your own.  When you run with other people you really push yourself more, and that’s what I’m hoping for.  I’m hoping that this race will help smash my 10km sub 54 time.

I’ll keep you posted in how it goes.

Surprised myself

When I was in Melbourne for my half marathon I picked up a few things.  1 being another pair of running shoes (they were on sale $70 off, so I figured they will be good to have, to rotate the shoes, so I get more wear out of them). 2. an agility ladder.  Ok it’s not exactly a ladder, more of a hexagon shape, but it does the same thing.  It was cheaper than the actual ladder, and I figured I’d get more use out of it with the kids (and I was right, they love it). 3. was to get myself a pull up bar.  The one I wanted to get, doesn’t really fit on any of my door frames.  I have a weird house with different sized doors.  So I went with the chin up bar. It’s a start and it will get me to my goal of to being able to do 5 pull ups.

Well yesterday the pull up bar got installed.  I tired it then, and failed.  Failed in the sense that I could only bring myself up halfway. However it was pointed out to me that I may have not being giving it everything.  So this morning, I gave it everything I had.  And I did it.  And to prove to myself that it was not a one off.  I did it again, well just before lunch that is.  So if I can continue to do one a few times a day, it will increase my strength. And once I can do a chin up, mastering a pull up will be easier.

What Next?

Just because I have achieved my goal of a half marathon doesn’t mean I’m done. I seem to have a lot of fitness goals. They are:
1. Run a sub 25min 5km
2. Run a sub 54min 10km
3. Run a half marathon in under 2 hours
4. Do 5 pull ups
5. Complete a tough mudder

So where to from here.  Well I can not do 1 chin up, let alone a pull up.  This is were P90X comes in. It is my in-between program until October where I plan on starting Insanity the asylum.
So far I have been using a combination of weights and bands.  I’m actually stronger than I think because I have to go up in a band colour, so yay me! The only thing about P90X is that I’m not really fussed with the cardio portion, so I’m doing it as a hybrid with running (cause I love it too much now to give it up), and TurboFire (cause how I love getting my fiyah on!)
The reason I’m doing p90x now instead of going straight into insanity the asylum is, well I know I don’t have the strength yet. Yes Insanity made me stronger, but I feel I can do more. And they do say that strength training is important, and I totally agree with it. Especially since I have signed up for tough mudder in January, I need to be at my peak fitness wise.  That and I want to have a bikini body… yes vanity goal.

21.1km – Run Melbourne

I never thought that I would be able to run 3km let alone 21km a year ago.  How things have changed.  How I have changed.  I have achieved so much already this year, and I hope to achieve so much more.

I don’t remember when I put a half marathon on my list of goals to achieve.  I know it was this year.  It’s possible I put it on there after I did ‘Run for the Kids’ in April.  But I’m glad I put it on there.  Yes I will admit that I was scared that I bit off more than I could chew, but it paid off.  Because not only did I finish a half marathon (goal 1), I also ran the entire thing (goal 2).  It would have been totally awesome to cross off my 3rd half marathon goal, and that was to finish in under 2 hours.  But the fact that I did it should speak volumes, and now I know what to expect for next time, and yes there will be a next time.

So how did it all go, well I shall have to start from the beginning. I woke up at 4.30am, 30 minutes before I had set the alarm, I stayed in bed until the alarm went off and got changed into my gear. I put a blister block bandaid on my left foot where I’m prone to get a blister (over long runs) and tapped it up as well, just to be on the safe side. I ended up not needing it but I rather have it than not at all.

So I had breakfast, which was slow cooked porridge with half a banana (as it was huge), with a bit of honey.  I actually was not in the mood to eat, but I needed to eat something otherwise I would have most likely not have made it through the race. And next time I will bring my little split belt and store some lollies in there, as believe it or not about the 12km mark I was starting to get hungry!
I was all ready to go by the time my 2nd alarm went off.  I set 3 alarms. 5am – get up, 5.20am – drag your sorry ass out of bed now & 5.45am you better be on the road now alarm.  Well I was on the westgate bridge when the last alarm went off.  I did not want to be late, and I’m glad I got there early.  I wasn’t the only one who got there at 6.15.  I couldn’t park the car at federation square (as they had blocked it off), but I parked in the car park opposite it, so it’s all good.
The 1st thing I did when I got there was go to the bathroom.  The I had a bit of a wonder around, I was trying to find the clothing drop off to drop off my bag.  Then went back and did the warm up.  No one wanted to get up close to the stage. Everyone was in their groups.  I was on my own, well I figured I don’t see the point of being so far away, no one knows me, and it only takes 1 person to encourage everyone else. And so I walked forward into the empty space, and yep soon everyone else followed… well of course they would when the warm up started.
After the warm up I zipped over to join the que of the loo’s, then headed over to the start line. Found my pace team (purple) with a finish time of 2h10mins.  That’s what I was aiming for.  Well actually 2h15m, anything less than that was a bonus.
The race started in waves of 2 minutes. So the faster times went first, and then slowly all the others.  It was 7.10am by the time I crossed the start line. I didn’t want to go out too hard and then lose my puff, so I kept with the pace team, but after 2km I was like “they are 2 slow, I will go a little faster”. And so I did, I went at a pace that I was comfortable with and that I was able to maintain it throughout the entire 21kmsl.  That pace was on average 5.55mins p/km. Some sections a little fast, some a little slower, but either way I was happy with this pace.
Next time I might aim for the faster pace team. So 2 hours. I ended up being in the tail end of the 2 hour team (they were lime green).

I thoroughly enjoyed the race.  When I had moments of “I’m getting tired”, I would then tell myself “no, you are just getting your 2nd wind”, and kept going, see the power of positive thinking. Destination fixation, I wanted to finish, and I did.  A DNF (did not finish) was not on the cards, well not on my cards. It wasn’t until the very end of the race and I was stretching I overheard a girl talking to her parents.  She was saying ‘gosh I didn’t expect it to be so hilly’.  My instant thought was ‘that was not hilly!’  And it wasn’t, well not compared to all the hills here in town.  All that hill training and speedwork obviously paid off, and I’m glad it did. Will have to continue to do so.

Will I do it next year? The answer will be yes.  Might actually do some fundraising for it too, didn’t this year, I was just focusing on the run, now I know what to expect, I can push to do more.

So think you can’t? Well I don’t believe in the word can’t.  Fear is the only thing stopping you, just do it, surprise yourself, I know I did.

For my run details go – http://connect.garmin.com/activity/199280786

My Split Times

1	6:09.6	1.00	6:10
2	6:03.9	1.00	6:04
3	6:10.9	1.00	6:11
4	6:05.6	1.00	6:06
5	5:44.3	1.00	5:44
6	5:52.9	1.00	5:53
7	5:52.5	1.00	5:52
8	5:54.1	1.00	5:54
9	6:03.6	1.00	6:04
10	5:44.8	1.00	5:45
11	5:45.9	1.00	5:46
12	6:01.0	1.00	6:01
13	5:35.2	1.00	5:35
14	5:56.2	1.00	5:56
15	5:46.7	1.00	5:47
16	5:48.7	1.00	5:49
17	5:46.3	1.00	5:46
18	5:40.8	1.00	5:41
19	5:45.1	1.00	5:45
20	5:32.1	1.00	5:32
21	5:31.3	1.00	5:31
22	1:02.8	0.25	4:10

It’s Tomorrow

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tomorrow is the 15th!  The 15th July!, that means my half marathon has come around! Wow a half marathon! A half marathon! Yes I’m repeating myself here, and putting it in bold so you understand the significance of this to me.  I still can’t believe that I decided to do a half marathon, wait, that I have decided to do the half marathon now.  As my intention was to always do one, but I was aiming for the melbourne marathon, and doing the half then.  So yes this is a big thing, especially considering that this time last year I only just started to run.  But look how far I’ve come! Yeah proud moment.

So now I’m starting to get nervous.  Not too sure how I’m going to sleep tonight, I’m hoping not restless, I would like some solid sleep, considering I still have to drive home, but either way I’m doing it, even if I walk part of it, but my aim is to run it, and run it all.

Today I went into the city.  For 2 reasons, to go to the health and fitness expo, and also to go into Kathmandu.  The expo itself was a bit disappointing.  Hopefully it’s better tomorrow.  I did pick up my pace band for the race.  My aim is to finish it in 2h15, so I grabbed the 2h10 pace band.  So approx 6.10mins per km. That is a bit faster than I’m aiming for but I’ll just play it by ear, or by legs, in this case.

I really hope it goes well, and that we have decent weather.  There are lots of what ifs, and I’d rather not think of them, but you can’t help it.  You just think of these things.  There will always be things out of my control, but I wont let it bring me down.  I’m doing this, and I’m crossing a goal off my list, hopefully 2.

Honk, Whistle & a Yeah

I really love running.  I never thought that I would get jealous of people running while I’m in the car going somewhere.  Yesterday afternoon I kept seeing all these people running, and I was like, oh man, I wish that was me.

Well today I got my last training run in.  8km speedwork.  Ok it was a casual fartlek run, but I kept a good pace, and a good speed when I did do the fartlek. What I don’t understand is the honks, the whistles and the yeah I got.  Is it because I look stupid running?  Or is it because it’s a good for you, and I wish I was out there? Or is it because ‘you’re hot’?  Or is it a “I know you so “hello'”. I have no idea, but it’s weird.

Who knows, all I know is, that I love running, and it has helped me in more ways than one.

So honk whistle and yeah as much as you like, I’m still going to run.

Why I don’t agree with

A very popular program here in Australia. Don’t get me wrong I love the trainer, however I DO NOT AGREE with the program.  It’s really frustrating because someone in the fitness industry should IMO not be teaching weightloss in this way.

It’s all about knowing your numbers.
Ok so here are my stats from when i first started vs now
TDEE – 1872 Cals (no exercise) | 2451 cals (taking into account 6 days of intense exercise)
BMR – 1560 cals | 1421

If you want to know your own numbers, then use fitness frog,

For me I don’t eat below my bmr, which is now 1421.  This is what my body needs to survive each day.  If I weren’t doing any exercise, then yes it might be possible for me to eat the minimum of 1200 cals a day, however I’d be starving, and well, I’d mostly binge out on  food, and that would not be good and no point going there cause that totally defeats the purpose of weight loss.
Ok so this is where I don’t agree on her method.  Sure go eat your 1200 calories.  But for goodness sakes EAT BACK YOUR EXERCISE CALORIES.  If she is asking you to burn 300-500 calories a day from exercise your net calories are 1200-300/500 = 900/700 calories  NET calories.  So that means that you would be fueling your body with very little fuel.  Have you seen high athletes eat when they are in training.  They eat ALOT.  So please don’t think you have to eat less to lose weight. If you want to train like an athlete (and even though I don’t see myself as an athlete, I do like training like one), then obviously you need to eat like an athlete.  So FUEL YOUR BODY.  Eat your exercise calories back! It means you get to eat more food! And well if you are like me, I love food.  And it means you do get to have those luxuries that you loved before you started all this.
I’m not going to deny it, I have a sweet tooth, and yes I will have some lollies or chocolate cake or sometimes even icecream.  But I allocate the calories for it.  I can’t just give it up.

The program itself besides this stupid flaw of NOT EATING BACK EXERCISE CALORIES, it is a good program.  However I think people would actually get better results if exercise calories were eaten.

The New Updated Playlist

Music for a half marathon

I’ve now edited my play list.  It still has 36 songs, but I’ve removed some and added some.
New list in new order.

1. Vanessa Amorosi – Amazing
2. Ke$ha – blow
3. La Roux – bulletproof
4. The Rubettes – Sugar Baby Love
5. Silverchair – Straightlines
6. Owl City & Carly Rae Jepsen – Good Time
7. Carly Rae Jepsen – Call Me Maybe
8. Jessie J – Domino
9. Britney Spears – I wanna go
10. David Guetta ft Nicki Minaj – Nothing but the beat
11. Cobra Starship ft Sabi – You make me feel
12. Maroon 5 ft Christina Aguilera – Moves like Mike Jagger
13. Coldplay – Everytear drop is a waterfall
14. The Script – You wont’ feel a thing
15. Bruno Mars – Runaway Baby
16. Rihanna ft Calvin Harris – We found love
17. The Wanted – Chasing The Sun
18. Brooke Fraser – Something in the water
19. Outkast – Hey Ya
20. Flo Rida – Good Feeling
21. LMFAO – Sexy and I know it
22. Madonna ft Justin Timberlake – 4 Minutes
23. Jennifer Lopez ft Pitbull – On the floor
24. Chris Brown – Yeah 3x
25. Katy Perry – Hot n Cold
26. Alexandra Burke ft Pitbull – All night long
27. Enrique Iglesias ft Pitbull – I like how it feels
28. P!nk – raise your glass
29. The Veronicas – 4ever
30. Flo Rida ft Sia- Wild ones
31. Pitbul ft Marc Anthony – Rain over me
32. Maroon 5 ft wiz khalifa – Payphone
33. Kelly Clarkson – Stronger
34. Delta Goodrem – Sitting on top of the world
35. Colbie Caillat – Brighter than the sun
36. Jason Derulo – Whatcha say

So that’s my list.  Yes I’m away that I like a lot of Pitbull, or more so he features in a lot of songs that I like. I should also mention that the Jason Derulo song features a sample of a song that I love, but for the life of me I can’t remember the artist (it’s female). There may be a minor change here and there with order but I think I will keep it as it is.

edit 13.7.12
I’ve removed one of the Enrique songs, and replaced it with The Wanted – Chasing the sun.
oh and the song sampled by Jason Derulo in Watcha say is Imogen Heap’s song Hide and Seek. See I told you it would come to me.